by Sara Hess
I nodded as though her affirmative reply had been a given. “That’s okay, we can keep it simple, but we need to get some food in you first.”
“You are not buying me anything.” Carrie stated firmly. “We’re close to the cafeteria and they’re open till nine. I can stop in there and get a sandwich to go or something, and since it’s my turn to buy I’ll even get you something.” She grinned knowing I got free food there as an athlete.
“I feel special, or do you buy food for all the guys?” I teased making for the cafeteria.
“Just the ones that chauffer me around, so that’s three.” She returned playfully.
She wasn’t kidding about that. My blood heated; who else was driving her around? Carrie laughed. “Nic, you’re thinking too hard, simple things down a little.”
And it instantly hit me and I grinned shaking my head. “You little…” I couldn’t really call her a shit so instead I said, “You give your bus driver’s food?”
Carrie smiled. “I wrap up a few cookies for them whenever I can. I don’t bake myself so ever since I started college I’ve become their best friend. Paul’s probably wondered what’s happened to me this last week. He’s being cookie deprived, poor guy.”
These dudes better be old guys. “His loss, my gain.” I responded unremorsefully. “You can give me all his cookies now.”
I hadn’t meant the remark to be suggestive but as the words left my mouth I realized what it must have sounded like and I watched Carrie to see how she would receive it. Would she blush or show interest? My dick swelled at the thought of her doing either.
“It’s not the same because you can get your own cookies.” She complained.
I laughed; at her remark and because she was completely clueless about the sexual innuendo. “Yes, I could, but receiving cookies from you would make my day.” I said unable to help myself. We’d arrived at the cafeteria and I drove into a ten minute parking spot just as someone was exited it.
Carrie smiled and gave an aggrieved sigh. “I guess it would only be fair to save you some cookies, too.”
The only thought in my head as I exited the truck was, ‘all of her cookies were mine and no one else’s’, and I had to admit the thought shocked me. Shifting my swollen dick unobtrusively I stepped around the truck and walked with Carrie into the cafeteria. Even though the sexual banter had been one-sided I’d still gotten horny from it, but then I was always fucking horny around her. The entire week had been one never ending hard-on.
I was still undecided about what I was doing with Carrie. Since seeing her again and realizing that she was legal, though still pretty young, I’d stopped denying that I wanted her. And I wanted her badly, to hell with my rules. However, she was different than the other girls I’d banged. I didn’t just want to fuck her.
But again, I wasn’t sure what I did want from her.
Right now I enjoyed spending time with her which was something completely out of the norm for me. My only enjoyment from any chick generally consisted of twenty to thirty minutes of sexual pounding relief, after that I couldn’t wait to get away from them, but Carrie called to more than just my lust. Hell, just holding her hand made me happier than I’d ever been, and that scared the shit out of me. Maybe that was why I didn’t want to look into my feelings all that deeply.
Groupies and other girls continued to pursue me. Nikki and that chick from the parking lot―I still couldn’t remember her name―were around everywhere letting me know that they were ready for the next round anytime. I wasn’t interested though, and my dick was only half hard in their presence, and that was only because I walked around half hard all day from my thoughts about Carrie. She was becoming an obsession and my incessant lust wasn’t going to be appeased until I had her under me…and me in her.
However, from the beginning I knew she wasn’t experienced and was even somewhat uneasy with being touched, so I managed my lust; hiding my hard-on’s and taking care of them at the house. I just hadn’t figured out if her wariness was because she was completely innocent or if something bad had happened to her…that second thought always sent anger burning through me…for that reason I’d been using the time each night to touch her as often as I could hoping to get her accustomed to me. It was something I needed from her. I wanted her completely at ease with me, and hell, I wanted—needed—to touch her all the time. I kept them casual and innocent; a stroke to her face, a rub to her shoulder, and I held her hand every night during the drive.
I should get a damn medal for being able to control my hunger for her. Every morning this week I’d woken in torment with a throbbing erection from dreaming about her. Well, except for that one morning when I’d reverted back to high school and jizzed myself awake. What a mess!
Consequently, I pushed my lust to the back of my mind as best I could and simply took pleasure in our platonic friendship. It was a first for me and particularly difficult and painful at times since she wrung such a visceral reaction from me, but I was an athlete so difficult and painful weren’t new things to me.
Inside the cafeteria Carrie grabbed some soup, bread, and water while I grabbed a sandwich and water. I had already eaten earlier, but this was a good late night snack. Carrie added a few cookies to her order with a smile my way. We then sat with our food and talked about our classes. I found out her school schedule and made an offhanded comment that Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday we had the same hours free during the afternoon and low and behold it was around lunch time. She grinned, but then grimaced explaining that normally her lunches were spent working for one of her Professor’s grading and filing, but then she brightened and said that Wednesday’s were typically free with a Tuesday now and then.
Damn, this girl had a full schedule. If she lived on campus so many of her money problems would disappear. From the comments she made it sounded like she paid for a lot of things that would be free if she took full advantage of her scholarship.
She never talked about her mother or father. In fact, from her reaction Saturday I surmised that there was something possibly dark in regards to the story of him. However, I wasn’t going to press her on either of them because it wasn’t like I talked about my parent’s. Shit, if her parents were anything like mine I totally understood her avoidance of the subject.
“I’ve been racking my brain and I think I’ve found something interesting enough to pull you away from your homework, and it took me all of two minutes.” We had finished eating and were heading back to the truck.
Carrie gave me a look as I opened the truck door and helped her in. “As long as two, wow.” She responded drolly.
I smiled loving it when she gave me attitude. “Yes, well, it was a difficult decision based on the importance of your education.”
“I appreciate the concern.” She replied pseudo seriously. Giving her a grin I shut the door and jogged around to the driver’s side.
“So, what did you come up with…to do, that is?” Carrie asked tentatively as I climbed in and started the truck. Although her tone was diffident her expression was wide open displaying acute curiosity.
“I thought we’d go to Theater Park.” I pulled out of the parking spot.
Carrie frowned. “What’s Theater Park?”
I threw her a shocked look. “You’ve never heard of Theater Park. It’s one of the most popular attractions in Charlottesville. I’d thought everyone had heard of it. How could you live in Charlottesville and not know about Theater Park? It was almost sacrilegious.” I shook my head in appalled denial.
“I’ve only been here three years, but even so I haven’t even heard the name in passing that I remember. What is it?” Carrie asked again in confusion.
“It’s not far from here, and now I want it to be a surprise for you.” I turned north at the end of Campus Drive. It took about twenty minutes to get there and during that time Carrie and I filled the silence on the music we liked. I found out she didn’t like any specific genre. Her likes ranged from some country songs, to oldies, to pop, t
o rock. I told her that I was wholly against country and most pop, and that I liked certain classic oldies, but that alternative and rock were what I liked best. Carrie said that alternative was her least favorite.
At her statement I had to hook up my phone to the truck radio to let her hear some of what I liked. She suffered with a smile through segments of several songs before she finally admitted to a partiality to one but it was only for the music and not the vocals. I lamented at her lack of taste which had her laughing.
We’d reached our destination and I found a surprisingly prime parking spot on the road in front of the Park. Grabbing my skull cap from the back seat I pulled it on my head and then reached over tugging Carrie’s beanie cap lower over her ears. She still wore it constantly and I realized it was another way she hid and protected herself. However, I was able to take pleasure in some of her hair which I did by stroking my fingers down the glossy black braid that trailed over her shoulder.
“Put your gloves on.” I instructed doing the same.
“Bossy.” She mumbled.
Grinning, I took Carrie’s hand as we exited the truck and led her into the park; I had never been a hand holding guy until I met her.
“Are you warm enough?” I asked.
“At the moment, but I’m not sure how long that will last.” She answered with a grin. Her cheeks were already getting pink from the chill.
“Yeah, you don’t seem like you’re all that thick skinned.” I commented teasingly.
She laughed and I thought it sounded kind of strained. “It depends what I need it for, but I have to admit that the cold penetrates rather quickly.”
“We’ll only be here for about thirty minutes.” I stated pulling her closer to my side.
There were quite a few people milling around even with the temperature in the thirties. As we neared the center of the park music and other sounds could be heard. Carrie gave me a curious look as they began to reach her ears. Moving around a bend we came upon the first entertainment.
“Oh, my gosh.” Carrie exclaimed with a delighted and dazzling smile.
Theater Park was a place people went to watch individuals showcase whatever talents they had, a sort of America’s Got Talent. The park was free, but each act had a donation box people could drop money in.
The first performance we came up on consisted of a couple guys doing some crazy martial art dancing; their arms, legs, and heads doing movements that seemed totally impossible. Carrie and I watched them for about five minutes before I moved her on to the next act, but not before dropping a couple dollars in the donation box when Carrie wasn’t watching.
The next act was a guy performing magic tricks; from card tricks to sleight of hand, like pulling dollar bills out of people’s wallets with his name written on it. That shit was just eerie. And even though Carrie was almost entirely covered I saw the guys gaze light on her and then he made a beeline straight for her. He looked a couple years older than me and was somewhat good-looking, and I stood stiffly and possessively at Carrie’s side as the guy had her write her name on a piece of paper, burn it, then seconds later he opened up a brand new bag of potato chips pulling the same piece of paper out of the bag. I didn’t like the attention he was showing Carrie, but even I couldn’t deny the trick was impressive, and Carrie loved it.
She gasped in shock and enchantment smiling crazily which only made her more beautiful. I watched the guy blink dazedly, shake his head, and then proceed to ask for her help in performing another trick. Rolling my eyes internally I gritted my teeth in annoyance at his continued attention but remained silent since she was finding it so entertaining. Once he was done with the second trick though I moved us along to the next attraction. I really didn’t like other guys fawning over her, but I knew it was something that would happen a lot because she was just too gorgeous to overlook. And even though I disliked the guy on principle I dropped five bucks in his donation box for making her smile.
After thirty minutes and several more acts I asked Carrie if she was ready to leave, but she said she wanted to keep going if it was all right with me. The expressive look of pleasure on her face made it difficult to deny her request even though I could see that the cold was getting to her. So we continued through the park to another attraction, but after another fifteen minutes her shivering was too difficult for me to ignore and I led her back to the truck. I hated seeing the disappointment on her face at having to leave, but the girls’ lips were almost entirely blue and quivering from the cold.
Tucking her back in the truck I started the engine and blasted the heat. Reaching over I removed her gloves and rubbed her ice cold hands between mine. I gave her a stern look. “We should have gotten you out of the weather earlier. You’re like ice and shaking from the cold.”
“I…it waasss s…soo mmmuchh fun though.” She said shakily her gaze focused on my hands warming hers.
Without a single thought otherwise I said. “I promise I’ll bring you back anytime you want.”
Her bright blue eyes lifted to mine. The look in them took a hold of something inside my chest and wouldn’t let go. I didn’t want it to. It was an expression of both hope and disillusionment. It said: she wanted to believe me but she wasn’t going to put too much of her faith in my promise. It was weird that I could decipher what her look expressed, but there it was plain as day. Maybe the reason I could read it so well was because I’d seen the look too many times to count in my own mirror growing up; hoping for something from my parents yet never receiving it.
Whatever disappointment she’d suffered had left a mark. I didn’t want to add to it. “I promise.” I repeated forcefully.
She seemed to study my eyes for a moment and then nodded. I knew she would never ask me to bring her back, just like she never asked me for a ride or anything else, but I made a vow to myself that I would bring her back so that she would never doubt my promises to her. She would never doubt me.
Carrie’s hands had warmed so I reluctantly released them and put the truck in gear. We rode in silence back to her apartment and the closer we got the tenser I became. A question was weighing on my mind and I was uncertain on how to approach Carrie about it.
As I put the truck in park in front of Carrie’s apartment she unbuckled her seatbelt and shifted to face me. “Thank you again for the ride, Nic, and for taking me to the park. It was one of the most enjoyable things I’ve done in a long time outside of water.”
My lip curled at her reference to water. That was high praise indeed with everything she’d told me about her love of water.
“Carrie, I was wondering if you would want to come watch the team’s home scrimmage game tomorrow at eleven? If you’re not working that is.”
Complete silence met my rushed inquiry for several seconds and I actually started to sweat. Damn! I’d never asked anyone to one of my games before and it was more difficult than I thought…the asking as well as the waiting for an answer. Hell, I wasn’t accustomed to asking anyone for anything, but I’d put myself out there more for Carrie in the last week than I had for anyone else in my life since my parents.
Carrie voice finally broke the laden silence. “We are switching up Saturday’s. Since I had the morning shift last Saturday I have to work the night shift this Saturday, and that doesn’t start until three.”
My shoulders loosened. “So you want to go?”
She nodded and smiled enthusiastically. “Yeah, I’d love to go.”
I was getting that fucking jittery feeling in my chest again. “The team has to be there at ten. I could pick you up and you could sit with Noah’s girlfriend. You’d like her; she’s pretty cool for a girl.”
Carrie smiled hesitantly at my joke. “Okay…that sounds good. She won’t mind?”
I noticed the slight uncertainty in her response telling me she was nervous about meeting someone new. I hadn’t been lying when I’d said Amanda was a pretty cool girl. She was one of the nicest girls I knew, real and unpretentious, completely unlike the many other fem
ales that hung around. I had a feeling she would get along with Carrie like a house on fire.
“Amanda will most likely develop an immediate girl crush on you and declare you lifelong BFF’s.” I said ironically. “How about I get your number and that way I can give you heads up if anything changes?” I opened my phone contacts. I’d been trying to find a reason all week to get her number and now I had the perfect excuse.
Silence reigned again for a few seconds before Carrie responded. “I don’t have a cell phone, just a land line.”
I barely contained my shock. I thought everyone had a cell phone, but then Carrie went without a lot of things it seemed. “That’s okay, just give me that.”
She read off the numbers like they were a countdown to a bomb explosion. “Nic, if you get my mom don’t leave her a message; just tell her your name. If you get the answering machine, again just leave your name. I wish I could give you a good explanation why but there really isn’t one. My mom is just…complicated.”
I wondered what the deal was with her mother. My relationship with my mother wasn’t complicated; she pretty much overlooked me unless I was penciled in on her social calendar. However, my relationship with my father was utterly convoluted. The man sought absolute control over my entire life…when he wasn’t also ignoring me.
Carrie opened the truck door to step out and pulled her bag out from the back with a self-conscious smile. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then and…uhm…thank you so much for tonight, Nic. It was the most fun I’ve had in forever.” With a small wave she shut the door and jogged up to her apartment door.
I watched her until she was inside the building ruminating over her ‘thank you’ and recognizing that it was more than surface gratitude. Every ‘thank you’ from her seemed to encompass more than the moment. I wasn’t sure if she realized it, but her trust in me was deepening.
Twenty-five minutes later I walked through the door of the house to see Noah and Amanda sitting on the couch watching television. I used to roll my eyes seeing them wasting a prime Friday night in front of the television, but now the idea sounded pretty good. The thought of having Carrie cuddling up to me…
